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Girl Scout Troop 30577 is proud to announce that Parisa Shapoorian recently achieved her Gold Award - the highest achievement within the Girl Scouts of the USA. Only 5% of eligible Girl Scouts successfully earn the Gold Award. To earn this prestigious award a candidate must plan and implement an individual "Take Action" project that reaches beyond the Girl Scout organization and provides a sustainable, lasting benefit to the local community.
Shapoorian selected as her project the creation of a new 30-foot walkway in area of the garden at Springhill Elementary School. Her ultimate goal was to stop the harmful erosion while creating a new learning environment for the young students. She accomplished this by creating a safe walkway with native plants for the students to study. The project area was not frequently used by students especially during rainy weather as it quickly became flooded and then eroded. Now the students can use the walkway year-round and, during the nice weather sit on it as they study the native habitat around them.
This project was not easy as most of it was done during COVID and, in the early phases, had to be replanned when there was a change in what Springhill Elementary needed. Setbacks like these are an important part of the learning and development in achieving this award.
In addition to this project Shapoorian has volunteered for six years in a row as a junior counselor at Diablo Day Camp in Lafayette and last summer she worked as a staff member at the Wolfeboro Boy Scout Camp, near Arnold, Calif. Shapoorian is currently a freshman at UC Santa Cruz, majoring in Computer Science.
In addition to her friends and family, who were the work crew, Shapoorian would like to thank the following people who were critical to the project: Nicole Carberry - Leader, Troop 30577 for her passionate leadership and encouragement; Terry Camp, Landscape Architect at Camp and Camp Associates for his donation of the walkway design; Laura Spain, third-grade teacher at Springhill Elementary who was the sponsor of the project; and Shahzad Arani of Arani Construction for donating the materials, equipment and training.
Shapoorian will be recognized at the Annual Gold Award Recipient Luncheon on Jan. 7, 2023 in San Ramon. The Girl Scouts of Lafayette have a strong history and invite girls to find out more by contacting www.gsnorcal.org
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA